Who's Catfishing me?
by Eternalscibe41
Summary: In the aftermath of one of the most harrowing events to have ever occured in the corridors of McKinley High School, Ryder struggles to come to terms with the fact that Katie isn't who she says she is, and is consumed with figuring out who Katie actually is.


**Disclaimer: I do not now, nor have I ever, owned Glee. It belongs to Ryan Murphy and others.**

Considering it was a school day, McKinley High School was oddly quiet. There was a sombre mood in the air. Students walked through the doors and past security, their voices rarely rising above a whisper. Despite the fact that nobody had been hurt, the fact that a gun had gone off in the school only a few days before still had everyone on edge.

In the midst of this, a tall boy with dirty blonde hair walked through the metal detectors and received his schoolbag from the security guard, before continuing on his way to his locker, hoping he still had time before his first class started. As he walked, a beautiful, blonde girl passed him, smiling, but Ryder could not bring himself to return the gesture. Even just seeing the girl reminded him of how weak and pathetic he had felt after serenading her, and finding out she wasn't Katie_xoxo.

Despite the fact that Marissa had seemed pretty into him, the knowledge that he was being "catfished" tore at him, he just couldn't understand why someone would be so cruel, and more than that, why someone in the Glee club seemed to be the one doing it. He had went over the memory of when he had called Katie that day when they were trapped in the choir room, trying to figure out who it could possibly be. His first thought when he had found out he was being catfished was Jake or Marley, but had since ruled them out based on how Jake had been acting since then, and the fact that Marley, other than being too nice a person to do such a thing, had her phone in her hand when he made that call.

The older members of the Glee club didn't know him well enough to be able to say all the right things the way Katie did, as well as the fact that many of them were in relationships meant they were ruled out. Plus, Sugar and Joe hadn't even been in the choir room that day, so the only other possibilities was Kitty or Unique, but Unique had a different ringtone, and Kitty had used her phone to tweet about the event, something he had only seen later that night.

Essentially, he had no clue over who Katie was, other than it being a Glee club member based on the fact that the phone had come from beside the schoolbags.

As Ryder approached his locker, force of habit made him pull out his phone and check to see if he had a new message from Katie, but found she had still not responded to the message he had sent when they were supposed to meet.

The shrill sound of the bell pulled Ryder from his thoughts, forcing him to rush through the combination of his locker, quickly pulling out his maths books and running down the halls hoping not to be late.

He threw himself into his regular seat in Math, right beside Marley as always who turned and smiled. Despite the fact his feelings for him weren't as pronounced as they used to be, her smile still warmed his heart, and he couldn't stop himself from smiling back. Ryder drank in the sight of the beautiful brunette beside him, everything from the worn jumper she was wearing, to the cap on her head that was quintessentially Marley.

"Any breakthrough in the case, Sherlock?" She asked, appearing not to notice Ryder's intense gaze upon her.

"Nope, she hasn't responded to my texts or anything either," was the despondent reply. Marley only smiled again, and patted Ryder consolingly on the shoulder, but before she could respond further, the teacher walked into the classroom to signal the start of a very painful hour for Ryder. He honestly didn't know how he would pass this class without her tutoring, and in the few weeks where they hadn't spoken outside of Glee because he'd kissed her, his grades had started to slip, so he tried his best to pay attention to the algebra on the board, but inevitably he started wondering about Katie again.

Thankfully, with Marley prodding him to bring his attention back to the work, he didn't fall further behind, and eventually the bell rung and he was able to leave. Saying goodbye to Marley, he left to go to his study class, but found himself wandering into the choir room. He hadn't been in there since the day of the shooting, but someone had evidently tidied up, and rather than sitting in a chair, he fell to the floor in the same spot he was when he called Katie.

As he sat there, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and pulled out it out to see a single word, "Sorry." Not caring about how short the response was, or the fact that Katie could be in class, he immediately called her, and immediately felt a sense of déjà vu as he could hear a phone ringing nearby. His head shot up, and without thinking he leapt to his feet and ran out the door, following the sound of the ring tone. Before he could get close, Katie hung up, but he continued on to where he had last heard the sound of the phone. As he rounded a corner, he saw a flash of red clothing at the other end of the corridor and began to sprint down the corridor, only for Mr Schue to leave a classroom and shout, "Ryder!"

Ryder slid to a stop at the end of the corridor, and looked around the corner and couldn't see anyone, so slowly turned around and walked back up the corridor to where Mr Schue was waiting. "Why were you in such a rush?"

Realising he hadn't told Mr Schue about what had happened to him, he hesitated before answering, "I'm late for class."

Mr Schue laughed, "You've forgotten your schoolbag."

Belatedly, Ryder remembered that he'd left his bad in the choir room, and sighed, "It's a long story."

Mr Schue smiled kindly, "I've got time," before beginning the walk to the choir room, and so Ryder followed him, and began to talk; explaining how he had received a friend request on Facebook, and started talking to this girl, and began to share more and more with her, before explaining how he had met Marissa and realised what was happening, before finishing by telling Mr Schue about how he had called Katie when they were in the choir room.

Mr Schue was silent as Ryder talked, his face slowly becoming more and more worried, and as realisation dawned on him, his face became horrified, "And it's someone in Glee club?"

Ryder nodded. "I just don't understand who would do something like this."

"Well, thank you for telling me, believe me when I say I'll get to the bottom of this. Come here at lunch with everyone who was in the choir room that day, and we'll find out who it is."

Ryder smiled, happy that Mr Schue seemed willing to help him. As Ryder left the choir room to belatedly head to the study hall, he felt a sense of hope that he might finally learn who Katie was. With the knowledge that his wait might soon be over, the day seemed to drag on and on as he went to Spanish after his free period.

He sat down into his usual seat beside Jake, and quickly explained what had happened when he had talked to Mr Schue. Marley, who sat behind them, leaned forward, saying, "That's great! Want me to text Kitty and let her know?"

Ryder nodded, and Marley leant back in her chair and pulled out her phone to send the message. Sensing she was distracted, Jake spoke up, "Look, I know you think it's good you'll find out who it is, but what if it isn't someone in Glee."

Before Jake could go any further, Ryder cut him off, "It has to be, it's too much of a coincidence otherwise."

Jake shook his head, "I'm not saying that it's a coincidence, I'm saying it might not be someone in Glee, it could be a member of the band, and what if it's Brad? You really want people to know that you pretty much had a virtual relationship with a creepy middle aged guy who is always hanging around this school, but doesn't actually teach anything?"

"I need to know! I need to know why someone would do this to me!" Before the conversation could continue, Mr Schue walked in, and so began the most torturous hour of Ryder's life. But finally, it was over, and he stood up, quickly packing his things and walking to the choir room with Marley and Jake. There wasn't much conversation; Ryder didn't really want to talk, there was a pit in the bottom of his stomach, he was sweaty, his hands were clammy, and he was exasperated with how slowly Jake and Marley seemed to be moving, even though a small part in him accepted that they were walking normally.

"Calm down, Ryder, just remember, we're here for you!" Marley's soothing voice did little to ease Ryder, neither did Jake gently punching him in the arm.

"Now man up, and walk inside." Only at Jake's words did Ryder realise he had stopped inside the choir room. The knowledge that he was about to find out who Katie was suddenly felt like a death sentence, and he was suddenly unsure about whether or not to go through with this, but Jake pulled him into the choir room anyway. "Just sit down and calm down, everything will be fine."

Ryder began to breathe deeply, feeling Marley's calming hand on his shoulder, and the reassuring presence of Jake by his side. He had missed this, and remembered again the pain he had felt when he realised the damage he had done to his friendships with the duo. Looking up, he saw Wade, or Unique, quite frankly, he still didn't know how to refer to him/her, but he supposed the name Unique certainly fit. Glancing around, he noticed the others that had been in the choir room that day had already arrived, and Mr Schue was leaning against the piano, clearly pained at the thought of what one of his students might be doing.

"Why are we here, Mr Schue, its lunch!" the question came from Kitty, and as Ryder looked at her in her Cheerio's uniform, he couldn't help but feel there was something he was missing.

"Yeah, Mr Schue, how am I supposed to keep up the gun show if I can't get my 6 meals a day?" Naturally, this comment came from Sam, and was a little more light-hearted than it would have been a few months earlier.

Mr Schue sighed, "Ryder brought something to my attention earlier that I sincerely hope isn't true. Please, if anyone has anything they want to share, please come forward now." No one responded, but those not in the know began to grasp that something serious was happening. Seeing no response was forthcoming, he continued, "Can everyone please place their phone on the piano here please?"

Slowly, the members of the Glee club got up to do so, and one-by-one placed their phone on the piano. Mr Schue turned to Ryder, "Please call the number again."

Ryder picked his phone up and quickly pulled up Katie's phone number, his thumb hovered over the "Ring" button for a few seconds as the gravity of the situation sunk in, before finally pressing it, and looking up to see everyone's curious face. Suddenly, the same ring tone as before erupted into life, and Ryder looked at the phones on the piano, and it only took him a few seconds to realise that the noise wasn't coming from the phones on the piano, it was coming beside the seats. Mr Schue seemed to have reached that conclusion first, and quickly rushed over to the seats, searching for the source of the sound, before finally settling on one bag.

Slowly, he picked it up as everyone realised that's where the sound was coming from. "Could everyone else please pick up their bag and phone and leave, and whoever's bag this is, please stay." Although phrased as a question, it was clear this was a command, and the Glee club rushed to obey, unused to the normally gentle Mr Schue being so stern. As everyone began to file out except Ryder, Marley and Jake approached, "Do you want us to stay as well?"

Ryder shook his head, "This is something I need to face for myself, just save me a seat in the cafeteria?"

Jake nodded, "Of course, and good luck." As they left, Ryder turned back to face Mr Schue and immediately saw who was standing beside Mr Schue, looking uncharacteristically shy and nervous.

**I quite liked the last episode, and have always liked Ryder, so I can't wait to find out who it is catfishing him. I watched those choir room scenes, and of the Glee club members, only Jake and Unique didn't use their phone, so I think one of them is doing it, and I have a funny feeling it might be Jake. But for the purposes of this story, I decided to explore the idea that the catfish would use a second phone. Anyone want to share their thoughts?**

**Also, in case people seem to think I'm brushing over the whole shooting too easily, something similar happened in my school, and because no one was hurt, things pretty much returned to normal after a week, even if the 25 or so minutes crouching under a table after the initial shots were terrifying. What did everyone think of how Glee covered the topic of a school shooting, I thought how the kids in the choir room responded was the same as what we did in my school.**

**Other than that, please review.**


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